Alan Hansen has "unreservedly" apologised for twice using the word "coloured" to describe black footballers on Match of the Day on Wednesday evening when discussing the current John Terry and Luis Suárez racism cases.

Hansen, 56, the show's long-time pundit, said: "I unreservedly apologise for any offence caused – this was never my intention and I deeply regret the use of the word."

Employing the term had put Hansen at the centre of an online backlash after he said: "I think there's a lot of coloured players in all the major teams and there are lots of coloured players who are probably the best in the Premier League. If you look at 25 or 30 years ago it was probably in a bad way - not as bad as some of the other nations on the continent - but certainly there is always, always room for improvement."

The BBC said it has received 82 complaints over the use of the word, which caused a backlash on Twitter. The former Tottenham player Rohan Ricketts, now with Shamrock Rovers, tweeted: "Is this Alan Hansen guy taking the f****** piss?? I'm not coloured??? He is part of the problem when using that word. We are BLACK Alan! [sic]."

He added: "Alan Hansen is more coloured than a black person. But still we would not call him or another white man coloured." According to the Sun, the former England international Stan Collymore said: "Coloured? What colour would that be? Blue? Green? Orange?"